Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez is courting some residential developers to be on standby to fight blight in neighborhoods.

The city wants to vet developers now so it has a list to choose from as it declares residential properties blighted and works to get them renovated.

City officials want to be able to match blighted properties with developers who have the financial wherewithal and expertise to tackle problem properties before the city acts to take control of a property through eminent domain or other means.

The city has declared about 20 blighted over the last couple years and more are in the pipeline, officials said. The city has budgeted $350,000 to fight blight in neighborhoods.

Submissions are due by May 24, but city officials said their hope is to add to the list.

The city has held up a home on West Garrison Street as a model of what it can do with a blight designation. The owner had walked away from it in 2008 and its dilapidated state earned it the nickname "vulture house" because of the birds it attracted. The city declared it blighted in 2012, took over the property and put it in the hands of Habitat for Humanity of the Lehigh Valley. A family, through the Habitat program, helped fix up the building and moved in earlier this year.

Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority is expected to tear down a nuisance property at 18 W. Garrison St.

Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority is expected to tear down a nuisance property at 18 W. Garrison St.

The announcement of the new blight program came the same day Northampton County Judge Anthony Beltrami approved a plan for the redevelopment of a blighted property in Bethlehem known as the former Goodman furniture store.

The city had taken the unusual step of taking control of the property, 30-32 E. Third St., through a conservatorship, and is trying to force a sale to Collaboration 3, a trio of local firms that want to turn the building into a first-floor commercial property topped by apartments.